Thank you for sharing your presentations Muir, and projects in the area of lifelong learning- they look inspirational indeed. This 'Lifelong Learning Day' sounds like a great event and it is nice to see this agenda preserved in Romania and other parts of Europe. But it seems to me that such an event may be needed in the UK, where lifelong learning seems to have fallen off (or at least down) the agenda, particularly in southern England. Although the UALL conference in April looked very successful.
- Catherine

Thank you for your thoughts Chris, very interesting. It is great that you highlight renewed focus on cities and links with HE, and it is important to note the need for further examination of both inter-city and intra-city inequalities. I would like to highlight the increasing usefulness of big data in trying to pinpoint inequalities linked with place in terms of health, learning, engagement and overall quality of life. I would like to highlight the role of Glasgow's new Urban Big Data Centre (http://urbanbigdatacentre.com), due to launch 30th Sept, in tackling some of these issues and helping develop interventions to promote learning cities in practical and evidence-based ways. Thank you again for your thoughts.
-Catherine

In welcoming Mike Osborne's comprehensive approach to these matters from a predominantly Scottish perspective, I am reminded that the contribution of adult education participation to better health was noted somewhat further back than his references. The NIACE Special Needs Advisory Committee was already involved in advocacy for stronger links between health providers and community adult learning organisations during the 1980s. Nor was the NHS entirely blind to these possibilities, as a number of jointly financed initiatives at the time bore witness. I imagine that, with powerful advocates in the adult education community of Scotland, there will be opportunities to present a counterpart Statement of Ambition to that of the Cabinet Secretary, drawing attention to the multiple benefits that derive from work from within the Lifelong Learning Sector. Having heard Mike Russell speak during May's 'International Learning Times' event, I would hope that he might be receptive to such further evidence.